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This week, there are SIX new films out for you to choose from: the webslinger finally gets his first Marvel film proper in Spider-Man Homecoming, things go bump in the night in It Comes At Night, there’s a French bittersweet comedy in The Midwife, a sickly sweet tale in The Last Word, Ryan Gosling starts singing again in Song To Song, and there’s a feelgood comedy/drama that doesn’t look like it’d make me feel good at all in Tommy’s Honour.
Spider-Man Homecoming releases a second trailer which is, again, just a noisy mess, and centres around young Peter Parker (Tom Holland) beginning to figure out his new-found identity as web-slinging superhero Spider-Man.
Following on from the dire Captain America: Civil War, he returns home, where he lives with his Aunt May, under the watchful eye of his new mentor Tony Stark. He tries to fall back into his normal daily routine – distracted by thoughts of proving himself to be more than just your freindly neighborhood Spider-Man – but when the Vulture (Michael Keaton) emerges as a new villain, Keaton playing the same type he has for a long time when in bad guy mode.
Directed by Jon Watts from a script by him and FIVE OTHER PEOPLE. REALLY??! It takes SIX people to come up with this junk? The others are Jonathan Goldstein, John Francis Daley, Christopher Ford, Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers.
Robert Downey Jr also reprises his role as Iron Man, aka Tony Stark, as does Marisa Tomei as Aunt May, plus Donald Glover, Martin Starr, Logan Marshall-Green, Hannibal Buress, Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan, Bokeem Woodbine as Herman Schultz/Shocker, plus Angourie Rice (The Nice Guys) as Betty Brandt.
And no doubt Stan Lee will pop along, too.
All that said, give me Andrew Garfield’s movies any day, over the sperm of Dominic Holland. And The Impossible was terrible, too.
And just how many more of these Avengers films will we get until they finally stop?! Especially with Spider-Man, it’s just the same characters meeting the same foes every few years but played by different actors (much like Doctor Who, in fact).
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Maybe!
It Comes At Night and then lots of bad stuff starts happening!
Secure within a desolate home as an unnatural threat terrorizes the world, the tenuous domestic order he has established with his wife and son is put to the ultimate test with the arrival of a desperate young family seeking refuge. Despite the best intentions of both families, paranoia and mistrust boil over as the horrors outside creep ever-closer, awakening something hidden and monstrous within him as he learns that the protection of his family comes at the cost of his soul.
Based on this trailer, it looks like it could go either way as to whether it’s worth the bother, but it entered the US movie charts in its first week at No.6, so it’s doing reasonably okay.
Writer/Director: Trey Edward Shults
Cast: Joel Edgerton, Christopher Abbott, Carmen Ejogo, Riley Keough
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Maybe!
The Midwife
Claire (Catherine Frot) is a midwife in a maternity hospital. She is humane and helpful and gives herself entirely to her patients. But her life is not a bed of roses for all that. Her maternity is about to close its doors and the devoted woman is determined not to work in the new modern hospital she regards as a “baby factory”. Her personal life is no triumph either: she is single and does not make friends easily. To make matters worse, her student son Simon is gradually leaving home, as he is developing a relationship with his new sweetheart Lucie.
It is the moment that chooses Béatrice (Catherine Deneuve), her dead father’s former mistress, to resurface. The eccentric, spendthrift, sensual, amoral woman (her exact opposite in fact) is really the last kind of person she needs to mix with. But Béatrice soon informs her that the suffers from brain cancer and she has nobody else to turn to. Torn between rejection and duty, what is Claire going to do?
I’m not 100% sure whether I’m too fussed, so it might be worth a watch.
Writer/Director: Martin Provost
Also stars: Olivier Gourmet
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Maybe!
The Last Word is a sickly sweet tale about spending your entire life being an asshole and then trying to make up for it when you’re near death, as Harriet (Shirley MacLaine) is a retired businesswoman who tries to control everything around her. When she decides to write her own obituary, young journalist Amanda Seyfried takes up the task of finding out the truth resulting in a life-altering friendship.
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Miss!
Song To Song is a Ryan Gosling movie with more singing, but how will it compare to La La Land?
Written and directed by Terrence Malick, it tells the tale of two intersecting love triangles, with obsession and betrayal set against the music scene in Austin, Texas and it features a huge cast including Haley Bennett, Rooney Mara, Michael Fassbender, Christian Bale, Boyd Holbrook, Cate Blanchett, Trevante Rhodes, Val Kilmer, Benicio Del Toro, Holly Hunter, Bérénice Marlohe, Clifton Collins Jr, Iggy Pop, plus, as themselves, Florence Welch, Patti Smith, John Lydon and Arcade Fire.
However, it’s still not a film I’m rushing to see.
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Miss!
Tommy’s Honour
In every generation, a torch passes from father to son. And that timeless dynamic is the beating heart of Tommy’s Honour – an intimate, powerfully moving tale of the real-life founders of the modern game of golf.
Maybe some will like this, but I was falling asleep before the trailer ended.
Director: Jason Connery
Stars: Sam Neill, Ophelia Lovibond, Jack Lowden
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Miss!
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.